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THE North West's favourite family friendly festival, Deva Fest, recently hosted the Devavision Song Contest to find local artists to join this year's line up.

With over 180 applications to play at the 2023 festival, Deva Fest is coming back:- 'bigger and better than ever,' with 20 spots provided for up and coming musicians.

The Cheshire based festival, Deva Fest, recently held its annual Devavision Song Contest, aimed at celebrating talent from across the UK and providing a select number of artists the opportunity to play at this year's festival, alongside a stellar 3 day line up which includes:- Will Young, Fleur East, Feeder and Morcheeba.

Set to return for the third year at a new venue:- Cholmondeley Castle, Deva Fest's founder is expecting the festival to be 'bigger and better than ever' and this includes the talent it has to offer. Over the last few months, the festival has received over 180 applications from aspiring artists across the nation, all with a range of musical backgrounds including, pop, indie and rock.

The artist submission numbers have risen by 4 times since last year. This opened up a larger number of slots available for those lucky enough to be chosen, providing more opportunities for up and coming artists to share their talent at a festival expected to welcome more than 20,000 ticket holders.

Philip Marston, Founder of Deva Fest, said:- “We're delighted with the level of talent from those who applied to play at this year's festival, and the number of applicants really speaks for itself. Of course, there's a huge focus on our main stage headliners but as a Cheshire based event and a festival still considered in its infancy as we celebrate our third year, we're all about celebrating local artists. And with the Devavision Song Contest, we hope to do just that.”

The Devavision Song Contest judging panel involved 2023 festival partners; the festival's lead drink provider, Liquor and Co, the festival's lead food provider, Artezzan, providers of the event's dance stage, Sensus, Cheshire based digital marketing and PR company, No Brainer, music marketing company, Elixir, and hospitality marketing agency, Nineteen. Also invited was senior lecturer from the University of Chester, alongside drive time presenter for national radio station, XO radio.

Kristian Rozells, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Chester, said:- “It was a pleasure to be invited to judge artists for Deva Fest this year. There was a really high standard of applicants demonstrating strong musicianship and artistry, and it was great to hear such a range of musical styles. I expect the audiences at Deva Fest will thoroughly enjoy the final selection.”

Matthew Davidge, the Drive Time Presenter on XO Radio, said:- “I was delighted to be invited to judge for such a great festival. It just goes to show how much talent is actually out there and it was great to see the number of applications that came in across the nation. Congratulations to the overall winners and to everyone who took part, I wish them well for their live show in August.”

Local performers, Simon Howard from Liverpool and India Arkin from Newcastle Upon Tyne scored the highest from the judges at the Devavision Song contest with a landslide number of votes for them to perform at the 2023 festival.

India Arkin, the indie Singer Songwriter from Newcastle Upon Tyne, said:- “It is incredibly exciting to be chosen to be a part of Deva Fest's insane line-up; to be playing alongside the likes of 'Feeder' and 'Will Young' is an absolute dream. I cannot wait to bring our own unique edge to the festival, it's going to be amazing to shred it up live, meet so many talented artists and get involved with Cheshire's glowing music scene.”

Simon Howard, the Singer Songwriter from Liverpool, said:- “It feels great to be playing at this year's Deva Fest! My favourite thing about music is getting to play live so I can't wait to get down there and hopefully the band and I can put on a good show. Thank you so much to Deva Fest for making me a joint winner of Devavision. Look forward to seeing everyone in August!”

Deva Fest has opened up its final 2 spots to a public vote, allowing social followers and fans of the festival to select the artists they would love to see perform this August.

There will be 5 performers to choose from and all voting will take place on Deva Fest's Facebook and Instagram channels until Monday, 3 April 2023. Votes will then be counted, and the 2 winners will be announced to take the last spots on:- 7 April 2023.

Cast your votes on both:- Facebook and on Instagram

Philip Marston said:- “At Deva Fest, our fans are at the heart of every decision we make, from the hand picked food stalls to the family friendly entertainment, so it was a no brainer to involve them in the Devavision line up decision. We welcome everyone to visit our social channels to place your votes and to check back in to see if your favourite artist has made the final cut!”

The top 12 Devavision artists confirmed for this year's Deva Fest are:- indie folk Singer, from Liverpool, Simon Howard, indie Singer Song Writer, from Newcastle Upon Tyne, India Arkin, melodic Welsh alt punk rock band, Fly-52, Gloucestershire 5 piece band, Sym and the Shady Branch Band, indie folk duo from London, Stables, rock Band, from Cheshire, 1968, 4 piece Indie Rock Band, from Wrexham, The Columbians, Singer Songwriter, from Coventry, Caitlin McCarthy, Pop, Funk and Blues Band, from Kirkdale, The Garnetts, and Singer Collaborator, Julia Mosley.

This year's Deva Fest will provide a range of family friendly entertainment, including:- a free to use fairground, live performers, a circus tent, Deva Laughs comedy tent, on site water sports and a range of hand picked street food stalls.

Ticketholders will be able to access shuttle buses from nearby Cities running all weekend, as well as return weekend coach transfers from:- Manchester, Liverpool, Warrington, Wallasey and Crewe, in partnership with Tuned in Travel.

Free on site parking is offered all weekend for those travelling to the venue by car.

Deva Fest will run from:- 11 August to 13 August 2023,and day tickets are on sale now along with the option to purchase weekend camping and glamping tickets.

For further information and to view the full lineup, visit:- DevaFest.Co.UK